Disease-specific knowledge, coping, and adherence in patients with inflammatory bowel disease

Little is known about the effects of disease-related education and knowledge in individuals with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The limited available research on this topic suggests there may be potential benefits to disease-related patient education. We hypothesized that individuals with greater IBD knowledge would have more coping strategies and higher medication adherence.

A total of 111 adults with IBD residing in the United States were recruited online by convenience sampling from IBD support group forums. IBD knowledge, coping, and medication adherence were assessed using standardized questionnaires. Data on seventeen clinico-demographic variables were also collected. A Pearson correlation was conducted to examine the relationship between IBD knowledge and use of coping strategies and also between IBD knowledge and medication adherence. Multivariate regression and one-way ANOVA tests were used to assess the continuous and categorical clinico-demographic variables, respectively, for potential confounding.

A significant positive association was found between greater IBD knowledge and active coping scores (r = 0.189, P = 0.024), instrumental support scores (r = 0.160, P = 0.047), planning scores (r = 0.159, P = 0.048), and emotional support scores (r = 0.159, P = 0.048). A relationship between knowledge and adherence score was not found. Significant relationships were found between four clinico-demographic variables and coping.

Greater IBD knowledge appears to be associated with the use of more adaptive coping strategies in patients with IBD, suggesting that providing disease-related patient education may enhance coping in this population. Future studies should explore the utility of formal disease-related patient education in improving these and other outcomes.